Illuminated sign



July 24, 1923- H WI'M 7 1,462,849 S. CHRiSTENSON ET AL ILLUMINATED SIGN Filed Feb. 16, 1925 Suucufom SAM CHQIST'E. NSOW.

Patented July 24, 1923.

UNH fill caars'rmrsou AND ARTHUR E. CHRISTENSON, or rnaeos rams, mmmnso'ra.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

Application filed February 16, 1923. Serial No. 619,529.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SAM CHmsraNsoN and ARTHUR E. GHiusrENsoN, citizens of the United States of America, residingat Fergus Falls, in the county of Otter Tall and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Illuminated Signs; and we do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, concise, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in illuminated signs, having for an object to provide a sign especially advantageous for use along highways during darkness, whereby to signal to an observer in an approaching motor driven vehicle, information or knowledge concerning the condition or course of the preceding portion of such highway, the sign being operable by the reflection and re-reflection of the light ra s emitted from the headlights of the approac ing vehicle, whereby to cause the dlspla of certain words upon the front ortion o the same in a manner which wil attract the attention of the operator thereto and like- .wise, be easily read or understood by him.

We are aware that various devices have heretofore been employed with varymg degrees of success, wherein it is the purpose to signal certain information to the operators of vehicles travelling a highway so equipped, during darkness. Amongst these devices are different forms of constantly illuminated signs, both of the lamp box and light flooded type. Because of the glare and reflections from such devicesas well as the cost of maintenance thereof, however, they have been foundto be exceedin 1y objectionable and even impracticable. 1th our improved device, there will be no confusing or disconcerting glare in the eyes of the operator of an approaching vehicle and it will not be until the light rays from the headlights of the vehicle strike the same that it will be illuminated in a manner to effectually signal to the vehicle operator. Furthermore, because of the fact that the sign depends for its illumination upon the headlights of a vehicle, it will be appreciated that the cost of maintenance thereof will be practically nil.

In order that the invention and its mode of operation may be readily understood by persons skilled in the art, we have in the accompanying illustrative drawings, and in the detailed following description based thereon, set out one possible embodiment of the same.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved slgnal having a portion of its top and end wall broken away and shown in section; and

Figure 2 1s a vertical transverse section through the improved signal showing the course of the reflected and re-reflected light rays emitted from the headlights of an approaching motor driven vehicle.

Having more particular reference to the drawings, the improved device may be stated to comprise a substantially rectangular shaped housing generally indicated by the numeral 1, including top, bottom, and rear walls, while the front wall thereof is open and is adapted to receive therein a transparent plate 2, the marginal portions of which are suitably engaged in the adjacent portions of the top and bottom and end walls as indicated by the numeral 3, whereby to prevent displacement of the same.

Positioned within the housing 1 at an angle of approxlmately forty-five degrees is a reflector or mirror 4, having its opposite marginal portions immovably engaged with adjacent portions of the bottom and rear walls of the housing, as shown in Figure 2.

Supported in the upper portion of the housing 1 adjacent the top wall thereof and in parallelism to the same is a rack 5 having a plurality of inwardly opening superposed grooves therein.

Engaged in the lowermost of the grooves in the rack 5 is a stencil plate 6 having certain matter cut therefrom in the usual manner. Disposed directly above the stencil plate 6 and in parallelism thereto, being supported in the intermediate groove of the rack 5, is a translucent colored plate 7, while directly above this plate 7, there is arranged a second reflector 8, said reflector being engaged in the uppermost grooves of the rack 5 and positioned in parallelism to the top of the7housing 1 and the translucent colored p ate In use of the improved signal, the same is supported upon a suitable bracket, stand ard, et cetera, at a point in proximity to one side of a highway, the open front wall thereof being disposed so as to face approaching vehicular trafiic upon that particular side of the highway. With the approach of a motor driven vehicle in darkness, the light rays emitted from the headlights thereof will be directed onto the angularly positioned reflector 4, in the manner indicated by the dotted dash lines in Figure 2, from whence they will be reflected directly upwardly as also indicated by the dotted dash lines, passing through the stencllled portlon of the plate 6, and through the translucent colored plate 7 for re-reflection upon the second reflector 8 positioned in proximity to the top of the housing 1. The reflected light rays contacting with this second reflector will be immediately re-refiected and caused to retract their initial course, thus efi'ectin the projection of a colored letter or wor corresponding to the stencilling of the plate 6 upon the transparent plate 2 arranged adjacent the open front wall of the housing 1. By reason of the coloring of the letter or word or other matter presented upon the transparent plate 2, it will be appreciated that the same will serve to immediately attract the attention of the vehicle operator thereto. Likewise, because of the mode of presentation of the reflected matter upon the transparent plate 2, the same may be readily read or understood by an observer.

Manifestly, the construction shown is capable of considerable modification and such modification as is within the scope of our claims, we consider Within the spirit of our invention.

We claim: r

1. A si n comprising a housing having an open ront wall, a transparent plate in said open front wall, an angularly positioned reflector within said housing, a second reflector positioned adjacent the top of the housing parallel thereto, and a stencil plate arranged immediately below said second reflector in parallelism thereto.

2. A sign comprising a housing having an open front Wall, a transparent plate in said open front wall, an angularly positioned reflector within said housing, a translucent colored plate directly below said reflector and a stencil plate arranged immediately below said translucent colored plateand in parallelism thereto.

3. A sign comprising a housing having an open front wall, a transparent plate in said open front wall, a reflector positioned within the housing at an angle of approximately forty five degrees, a grooved rack supported in tie upper portion of said housing in parallelism to its top, a second reflector supported in the upper portion of said rack in parallelism to the top of the housing, a stencil plate supported in the lower portion of said grooved rack and in parallelism to the second reflector, and a translucent colored plate supported by the rack intermediate of said stencil plate and second reflector.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

SAM CHRISTENSON. ARTHUR E. GHRISTENSON. 

